The acquisition builds on Premier’s real-time surveillance and outcomes management while adding about 400 unaffiliated facilities to its footprint. TheraDoc’s offices in Salt Lake City and its 120 employees will become part of Premier’s Performance Services business unit, reporting to Keith J. Figlioli, Premier’s SVP of Healthcare Informatics.

Acquired by Hospira in 2009 for $63m in cash, TheraDoc provides data analytics and informatics to healthcare organizations and is currently installed in about 600 US facilities, according to Citi Research analyst Garen Sarafian, who expressed positive support for the deal. TheraDoc’s products range from clinical intelligence -- offering alerts to physicians regarding patient statuses -- to using clinical data to identify healthcare-associated infections.

France Pitera, who is currently VP of Hospira, and is planned to be named VP of Safety Solutions at Premier, noted: “Considering that only 50 percent of providers have invested in electronic clinical surveillance, our increased scope already addresses a largely untapped marketplace with an unmatched, best-in-class solution. We will leverage the collective resources of TheraDoc and deep analytics capabilities available through the PremierConnect platform to continue developing a broad suite of quality and safety products in a cutting-edge SaaS [software as a service] model.”

The acquisition provides Premier access to TheraDoc’s long-standing relationships, which should provide cross-selling opportunities for Premier, according to Sarafian, who added that this is “consistent with the firm’s post-IPO strategy to expand its footprint beyond its current member base.”

Combined, the two organizations will provide clinical surveillance expertise to about 1,000 facilities. TheraDoc was ranked by KLAS, a health informatics research company, as the top product in the infection control and monitoring software category in both 2012 and 2013.

With the addition of 400 facilities to its footprint, combined with the market for electronic clinical surveillance which, according to HIMSS, “remains attractive and unsaturated, Premier is now well positioned to capitalize on this growth opportunity,” Sarafian added.